Amsterdam continued and boarding our ship the Eistla

Amsterdam continued and boarding our ship:

We awoke early and packed our bags for storage here at the hotel. We then went to the Train Station and found a cafe for coffee. 

We then walked along the water from and found our ship the Viking River Cruise Eistla. This is a change due to water conditions on the Danube. The Viking ships are identical so rooms etc will all be the same.  The appearance of this ship compared to the other lines we saw yesterday is hands down more impressive. 

Time 0730: 

We were warmly welcomed aboard, checked in and learned they would be happy to store our luggage till our room was ready. This saves us from hotel storage and is very convenient.  No Magical lines here, HOW KEWL IS THAT!!!

From our hotel to the ship is maybe a 7 minute  easy walk, so bags were taken to the ship and we were off to explore. 

We took the trolley to the Van Gogh Museum and arrived at about 0930. This is an excellent museum on many respects. I learned many interesting things about Vincent Van Gogh and about myself. As I viewed his paintings I realized how a painter and a photographer are not very different. We both try to capture a moment in time, where the spirit and emotion are captured and imported to the viewer. 

Van Gogh enjoyed the peasant life and many of his works are of the simplest subjects.  He enjoyed the rural life where the peasants and farmworkers were linked to nature via the cycles of sowing and the harvest , life and death. He enjoyed the country life much greater in many respects over the civilized life of the city. 

He believed in simple subjects as they convey the nature of life. Given this feeling and his ability to capture the essence of the common man, I would call him the Norman Rockwell of his day. 

I found he saw birds as artists in the way they constructed their nests.    

He was friends with Gauguin, Bernard and Toulouse Lautrec, all his contemporaries. He was influenced by Monet and many others. 

I keep going back to his ability to see and capture a great deal of meaning in the simple things in life. I find this skill incredible. As I viewed his works a peace came over me. Yet his life was turbulent, he was plagued  by mental illness, admitting himself to an asylum and finally committing suicide. He did find his painting had healing properties as he painted during his time in the asylum. 

He had a very close relationship with his brother Theo , who was the recipient of many of his works. Theo followed his brother in death six months after Vincent died. It was Theo’s wife Jo who judiciously sold Vincent’s works, and it was her efforts which brought him his fame. 

After the Van Gogh Museum, we took the trolley back to the central station. From there we walked to the Wailing  Tower where the VOC cafe/bar located. Here one can get bitterballen. This is a gravy filled ball with a layer of mashed potatoes that is deep fried. They were quite good. We ordered a Dutch Snack Platter which consisted of five dutch treats. This included a fried cheese, a batter covered sausage, a batter fried piece of white chicken meat, a bitterballen, and a potato and gravy filled bitterballen. All were rather tasty. 

From there we took the bus to the Maritime Museum. This museum highlights the role the sea has played in Dutch history. Many exhibits of whaling, art, model ships, and navigation to mention a few. Here one can find a replica of the Amsterdam, a ship which when commissioned took a mere six months to build. The reconstructed replica took 7 years to build. 

As we were exploring the outside exhibits the skies had darkened and the rain started, this was a heavy rain of Biblical proportion. We got a little wet walking to the bus stop. Soon a bus arrived and we were transported to the Central Station and walked towards the Ship. 

We boarded the ship and received our room keys. Our luggage was awaiting us in the room. Our room is on deck one and is a 150 square feet. Plenty of room even though the room is small. Very nice toiletries , bottled water and a good bit of storage space. Lynn unpacked and we went to explore the ship. I will wait till later to get better pictures of the ship.